Iowa: When Eastern Politicians Appear to be Folksy

I've lived 32 years in the Midwest, and I can't remember being around a hay bale in August.

Keep that in mind if you take a look at this video of Mitt Romney in Iowa explaining that Corporations are People. What the hell is with the hay?

It's August. Any hay-related recreation I have ever enjoyed has always been in October, during harvest and pumpkin festivals and possibly on the back of a hay wagon. Early August is not hay season. It's not harvest time... it's the time where you can have an entire dinner of butter-drenched roasted sweet corn. Even if you grew up on a farm, unless you have livestock, you won't have hay lying around. It's one of those things that is slightly maddening, and how you know that the audience for this video is not the good people of Iowa, but those who don't live in the Midwest, and have a mental image of what the Midwest is like.

Even though he grew up in Michigan, he should know better. Then again, he grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, so maybe he doesn't. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and I can still tell you that when the pasture is still green, you don't need to feed the cows hay. Instead the hay is symbolic. It means, "I'm folksy", "I'm down to Earth", "I'm agrarian." What it also means is "I'm pandering to you hicks for the guys back home", where ever that may be.

Never trust a politician who is around that much hay in the growing season. He's listening to his image consultants too much.